Doctor Who and the Daughter of the Daleks
by LittleMewLugia
Summary: A Ninth Doctor story. WARNING:Contains major spoilers for episode 6:"Dalek". The Doctor and Rose arrive on Earth in the 24th Century. There they meet Linnena, the half-human, half-Kaled researcher. However, there is more to Linnena than is apparent.
1. Default Chapter

Doctor Who and the Daughter of the Daleks

Part One-Linnena

Shobar watched as Linnena used the microscope to analyse the DNA of the sample on the slide. She was a very bright child, and so she should be, considering her parentage. Neither of her parents were still alive, of course, her mother being one of their great minds who had died years before, but who had, as all their people were required to, deposited some of her gametes-the eggs from her ovaries-in the reproductive banks. Her father was dead even longer, but some of his blood had been found. From that, they had garnered enough genetic material to replicate it, put it onto artificial chromosomes, and using _in-vitro_ fertilisation techniques, introduce the material into the egg, fertilising it. They had even managed to solve the usual problem associated with hybrids, of sterility. Linnena would be able to have children. With the memory print of her father-something that had taken years to find-they were able to impart her, during her gestation and maturation within the artificial womb, with all the scientific knowledge of her father. It was hoped that she could help find a way to begin undoing the damage her father had done, to weaken his lethal creation.

Linnena, the half-human, half-Kaled daughter of Davros continued her work, unaware of the scrutiny she was under. Shobar smiled. She was such a dedicated worker, sometimes almost too dedicated. At times, Linnena seemed to be a workaholic.

With a tortured-sounding grinding and wheezing, the oddly out-of-place blue box faded gradually into view in a little-used storeroom in the facility. For a moment, nothing happened, then the right-hand door of the box opened, and a tall, thin man with dark hair cropped close to his head stepped out. He was wearing a slightly-scruffy leather jacket and a pair of black Jeans. He was followed by an attractive blonde of about nineteen years old.

"Now, we should see when and where we are." said the Doctor. "The old girl is reliable most of the time, but she has her moments, I'm afraid."

His companion, Rose, looked about. "Well, no-one in the immediate area."

"Well, let's go and find someone, shall we?" The Doctor said. "Doctor, what if it's somewhere we're not meant to be?" asked Rose, who in her recent travels had become fairly streetwise about how the TARDIS could go anywhere and anywhen, especially places that put them in danger.

We try to explain, and if that doesn't work, we try to bluff." the Doctor told her.

"What if that doesn't work? I don't fancy getting shot at again!" Rose said.

"We run back to the TARDIS, of course." said the Doctor. "Come on, it probably won't be like that this time."

"That'll be the day!" grumbled Rose. However, she shut up after that, and went along with the Doctor.

They rounded a corner, and came face to face with two white-suited figures, who called out "What are you doing in here without a lab-coat? This is a restricted area!" He raised his wrist-com to his mouth and called "Varros to Security, BL1. We have intruders!"

"Never mind us, wrong turning, sorry! We'll just be on our way." Said the Doctor, trying to walk past, but one of the figures grabbed his arm.

"Stop! If you refuse, our security teams will be instructed to shoot at you on sight!" he said, as the other figure grabbed Rose.

"Doctor!" said Rose. "You said we would explain."

"Very well. My name is the Doctor, and this is Rose…" he began.

Okay, he didn't tell the _entire_ truth, and at some points Rose was sure he'd stretched the truth almost to breaking point, but it seemed he had convinced them to let them stay for a while. Due to some of the Doctor's omissions, they seemed to think they were there on a work-placement. Rose still thought she and the Doctor were almost as much in the dark as before, still not knowing where and when they were. Just as she thought this, the Doctor spoke.

"Can you remind me of the date? My travelling seems to have left me a bit confused. Space-sick, you know."

"Why it's March 30th, 2364." Said the man who had introduced himself as Varros once he'd heard the Doctor's explanation.

"And what's this lab known as, again?" asked Rose.

"London East Quadrant Bio and Xeno Research lab." Said Varros.

_Earth of the future, then_." Thought Rose.

"You may as well work with Linnena, who is experimenting with viral vectors and DNA. It'll be pretty basic tasks, but it will free Linnena up to research more effectively. Here she is. Linnena, here are two placement-students who can help with the viral shell and DNA replication while you fiddle around with sequences. This is Rose, and this is the Doctor.

The girl addressed turned around with a smile on her face. "Hi. I'm Linnena and…" As Varros finished speaking, she paled.

"Doctor!" she cried, and her vocal tone was that of an accusation. "From Gallifrey?"

"That's right." said the Doctor puzzled. He did not recall meeting her previously, but with time-travel, one could never know.

"You know this man, Linnena?" asked a middle-age scientist.

"Not precisely, but my father knew him, and as you know I have picked up a few of his memories. This man-well, he's one of several known as the Doctor-has interfered in my father's plans often enough. He's a troublemaker and a meddler."

"My dear child, I am a scientist, a serious scientist, how can you accuse me like this. Who IS your father that his opinion of me is so low?"

Linnena ignored him, and continued to speak to the scientist who had asked.

"Furthermore, Shobar, this man isn't even a human. He's of a race known as Gallifreyans, who are meddlers the world over. I'll work with this girl, but not him." She addressed the room. "Some of you are xeno-biologists, students of non-terrestrial life, he's as nonhuman as you can get. You studied me when I was born, and I'm half human. I am sure you would find him a fascinating subject." She turned her smile on the Doctor, whom three of the scientists were approaching.

"As a scientist, Doctor, I'm sure you will not want to stand in the way of progress?"

"He's not a lab animal. Leave him alone!" cried Rose.

"Is this true?" Shobar asked the Doctor.

"That I'm from off Earth? That I'm Gallifreyan?" Most assuredly." the Doctor said.

"We request that you come with us." Said Varros, who had approached, the security team he had called for earlier right behind him. "We must assess your potential threat to the planet Earth, and your purpose in coming here. The gentlemen here can carry out their preliminary studies while we question you."

"He's a hu-I mean a sentient being, he has rights!" Rose cried. "You can't treat him like-like some specimen to be probed and poked! At least ask his permission!"

"It's okay, Rose, I think that allowing these gentlemen to speak to me might be to our mutual advantage. I have a major advantage over a lab rat. I can respond to these researcher's questions, and if need be, I can poke back, twice as hard if necessary." He flashed her a reassuring smile as he was led off.

Rose turned back to Linnena. "What do you have against the Doctor?" she asked. Linnena turned to look at her.

"My father left a memory print, which these gentlemen found. They imparted my father's scientific knowledge-which is considerable-to me, using this print. Along with the knowledge, I acquired some of his memories. He features in many of them, interfering." She turned her gaze on Rose. "You, however, are not any of the companions, male or female, he often had with him when my father saw him."

"No, I joined him recently. Couldn't resist seeing the universe and helping to save the Earth, several times over." She joked weakly.

"Who is your father?" asked Rose.

"Was." Linnena corrected. "His was a great scientific mind. His name was Davros. He was from the planet Skaro. He was somewhat-misguided-but his science was sound. After an atomic conflict on the planet, the increased radiation level was causing the Kaled race to mutate. Davros speeded up the mutation of the Kaled race to the point that their continued existence was dependant on a life support system contained in a mobile casing. His intention was to use them as sentient weapons. He scrambled the name to give the new Kaleds a new name-Daleks."

"He created the Daleks?" asked Rose. She recalled the first time she'd encountered one of those stalk-eyed, psychopathic overgrown pepper-pots only too well. It still trundled, elevated, glided, flew, and 'ex-ter-min-ated' its way through her nightmares.

"Yes, and I was created to help neutralise the threat the Daleks pose to all other sentient life in the universe. Using my father's scientific knowledge and knowledge of the Daleks, I am to create viral infections, transmissible by both organic construct and machine. The prime motive is to infect the brood units whenever they are set up, and the virus will either carry a protein that should affect their behaviour, making them less aggressive, or will stop them maturing. That is why the DNA and viral replication is so important. We have talked enough. It's time to get to work! I will show you how to use the virus and prion-coat replicator. This is what you will do for me." Rose looked rebellious. Linnena fixed her with a baleful stare.

"You will obey." she stated. Then she began explaining the workings of a nearby machine. The discussion was over. Seriously wanting to smack Linnena in the mouth, Rose listened to her instructions. However, decided Rose, she and Linnena would be having a talk sometime very soon.

"I am not here to scout out your planet for invasion or to pose any threat to it!" the Doctor explained. "I am an explorer, and I let my curiosity guide me-sometimes into situations just like this!"

"Assuming that that is the truth, I am sure you will understand our caution in dealing with you. If, as you say, you mean us no harm, you surely would not object to us making absolutely certain." Varros said. "I'm afraid you'll find us humans are like that."

"Yes, suspicious bunch, aren't you?" said the Doctor, leaning back and crossing his legs. "Okay, where do you want to start?"

"How about telling us your name?" asked Varros, as one of the scientists indicated they wanted to take a blood sample from the Doctor.

"I want that back when you've finished! I'm not leaving my blood around to be tampered with." He said.

"Very well." agreed Shobar. The Doctor turned back to Varros.

"My name is The Doctor." he told him.

"Doctor...who?" he asked.

"Just The Doctor." he said.

"Doctor is a title, not a name!" snapped Varros. "What is your name, Doctor?" The Doctor nodded. This question had come up before, in other lifetimes.

"Doctor John Smith." he told them. "I am Doctor John Smith."

"That's obviously an assumed name." Varros said scornfully. "Your _real_ name?"

"You wouldn't be able to pronounce it." the Doctor told them. "On Gallifrey, my name is as common as John Smith on Earth. That is the name I have always gone by on Earth."

"You have been on Earth before?" asked Varros.

"Oh yes, several times." The Doctor said. "Saved it for you a few times too, I may add."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Varros. "Explain that wild claim of yours."

"You know about life on other worlds." the Doctor said-a statement not a question. "If you didn't know some of it was liable to be hostile, you wouldn't be threat-assessing _me_. The Yetis, the Sontarans, the Slitheen, the Autons, the Daleks-they've all tried to take over your planet before and it was my job to stop them." The Doctor noticed that everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing and were staring at him.

"Was it something I said?" he asked.

"Just what do you know about the Daleks, Doctor?" asked Shobar.

"Okay, so just what am I doing here?" Rose asked.

"You are replicating casings for viruses." Linnena told her.

"So what are you doing?" asked Rose. Linnena sighed.

"I am running computer simulations of DNA sequences and what the addition of them to the Dalek's genome would do to the Daleks. We seek to either reduce their aggressive tendancies, return them to a more humanoid form and reduce their aggression to more human levels, or destroy them entirely. The third option is only for emergencies-we have no wish to commit genocide."

Rose saw that Linenna was genuinely interested in her work.

"I think the Doctor would be interested in helping your work." said Rose. "We encountered a single Dalek a few months ago." Rose shuddered at the memory of their narrow escape in Utah.

"What happened?" asked Linnena.

"It was more advanced. It could fly up stairs and in the air, it's midsection, containing the gun and sucker arm, had 180 degree mobility, so did it's headpiece. Projectile weapons-bullets from guns-were dissolved or removed by the Dalek's force-field. It slaughtered more than two hundred people-fifty or so of them fully-armed. I only just escaped with my life. I felt sorry for it at first, it was chained up and at the mercy of this collector chap who tormented it terribly. It said it was the last of it's kind."

"You felt sorry for it?" Linnena echoed, and Rose thought she heard her voice soften a little. "You cared?"

"I didn't know what it was then." Rose said. "I didn't know it was so dangerous. What that man was doing to it though was despicable. I'd still feel compassion for it, but I wouldn't go near it if I found another one."

"Why not?" Linnena asked. Because it's not human, not like you?"

"No!" protested Rose. "Because it would probably try to _kill_ me! I don't have a problem with nonhumans, you know?" Rose remembered the Tree People, The Moxx of Balhoon, the little blue people, the Face of Boe, and the others she had met five billion years ahead. The one she's taken issue with was the only other human there, Cassandra. No, no-one could accuse Rose of xenophobia.

"I take it you _are_ human?" asked Linnena. "Not all of The Doctor's travelling companions were, but most looked it."

"Yes, I'm human." Rose said. She was dismayed to see Linanna's face suddenly seem to close on her. Linnena had begun to open up, even to be on the verge of smiling.

"We are wasting time. Continue making the viral protein coats." Rose opened her mouth to say something, but the look on Linnena's face made her think twice, and she closed her mouthy again.

"I will obey- for now." she muttered under her breath. She sighed, and turned back to her work.

"I know a lot about the Daleks, more than you do, I should think." The Doctor said. He uncrossed his legs, straightened up, then glared at the scientist who was taking a hair sample and had accidentally pulled his hair in the process. "Hair is not that different across the galaxy! That hurt!" He looked at Shobar again. "What do _you_ know about the Daleks? Why are they of such interest to you?" Shobar opened his mouth, as if to speak, but Varros got there first.

"That is classified, Doctor. What the Earth Defence Force knows needs to be kept between us. We can't go round giving out information like that, willy-nilly, to anyone who asks!"

"The Earth Defence Force?" mused the Doctor. "You have a united planetary army? I take it UNIT no longer exists then?"

Varros blinked.

"The Earth Defence Force has grown from UNIT. It's what UNIT became. How do you know about UNIT?"

The Doctor smiled. "Do you still have the UNIT files archived?" Varros nodded. "Then I suggest you do a search of them. Look under 'The Doctor', 'Doctor John Smith' and 'Scientific Advisers.' Cross-reference them and look at the results. Then come back to me. Don't worry, I won't be going anywhere-these gentlemen won't let me." he said, nodding a bit sourly at the scientists.

Varros stopped long enough to see the truth of this, and then set off to do as the Doctor had requested. It was only once he was running the check that he wondered how the Doctor had managed to persuade him to do so without question.

Rose stopped to watch Linnena, aware that the other woman had stopped her work. Linnena had stood back from her microscope and was rubbing her eyes. Then she sat on a stool, and put her head in her hands. It took Rose a short time to work out that Linnena was crying, and about a minute to decide to risk reaching over to tentatively touch her shoulder.

Linnena jumped, then turned to face Rose.

"What's up?" asked Rose.

"I-I'm sorry, this happens sometimes." Linnena said. "I'm very confused, sometimes I don't know quite what I'm doing." Rose felt that there was more to it that Linnena wasn't saying, but she was not going to push the issue. Instead, she took Linnena's hand in hers, searched her pockets, and found a tissue. She gave it to Linnena and watched as the other woman dried her eyes and blew her nose.

"Here I am, a scientist working on a big problem, the solution which would help other races, not just humans, and I'm not sure what I'm doing. I don't mean experience-wise or technique-wise, however. I'm well versed in DNA replication, restructuring, cloning, sequencing and re-sequencing. I know how to use the machinery in these labs, and thanks to the memory-print from Davros, certain ones that are not. Given time, the parts, and a team of engineers, I could probably build some of that machinery." She laughed. "However, I have just one life-span and a lot of work to do."

"Maybe too much work." said Rose. "When do you get time to yourself, time off from what you're doing?"

"Apart from sleeping and meal breaks and a couple of hours recreation time, I don't, but that's as much my fault as anyone else's. Shobar's always telling me I should take time off, take a break, but I never do."

"Why ever not?" asked Rose. "Maybe you should try."

"Because I'm here for a reason. It's my job to do this work. I wouldn't fit in on the social circuit, I have no social skills. I may be physically mature and know an awful lot, but my actual physical age since birth can be counted in single figures. My maturation was speeded up, but I never learned to play with other children or talk with others throughout life. I missed out on a lot of social skills. Everything I know I either learned from the people here, or the memory print. That's all I need for here. I belong here."

"I see what you're saying, and yes, I've noticed that you lack a few of the conversational niceties I'm used to but I think if you got out more, you could learn." Linnena shook her head.

"Maybe, maybe not, but again we've got sidetracked. Let's get back to work."

"See, you're improving already. That's put in a much nicer way then the last two times you set me to work. Perhaps we can try and talk while we work. I always found conversation helped a task seem short."

Linnena nodded, and the two women got to work, Rose feeling a little happier about the situation since she had landed.

Varros walked in, holding a sheaf of papers. "Well, yes, the UNIT archives are packed with references to Doctor John Smith, their scientific adviser. A very odd fellow, by all accounts, in fact they're not sure if it's the same person, as he seems to have taken at least three different forms. However, in each case, he recognized certain members of the UNIT team, and knew things he wouldn't have known otherwise. Whenever he turned up, there was usually an archaic blue police phone box somewhere in the vicinity." Varros stopped talking, and looked at the Doctor. "Such an article has recently been discovered in Storage Room 3."

"Yes, don't bother trying to get into it, it responds only to me." He said.

"The archives also state that he has top security clearance, and thus should be given any and all assistance as needed. Now, that clearance doesn't have an expiry date, but I think that we should get you a new set to update you, but after that, perhaps we can exchange what we know. We still do this the old-fashioned way, pen and paper, but also a retinal scan and thumb-print, so I'll just go and get all the bits and bobs, and we can get you up-to-date clearance. While I get that, perhaps Shobar can explain his side of things, the scientific side." Shobar nodded, and for the second time in half-an-hour, Varros dashed out, leaving the Doctor alone with the three scientists.

"Well, now we're getting that sorted out, perhaps you can fill me in on what's going on? The sooner I know what's going on, and the sooner I can give you some help if need be, the quicker I can be taken back to check on Rose."

"Rose is with Linnena, Doctor. Linnena is quite sensible, and quite capable. Your Rose is in safe enough hands," Shobar told him, smiling.

They had run out of subjects to talk about, and had worked in silence, except for the odd comment here and there about the work. Linnena had set Rose to using the virus coat replicator to turn out some new viral coats.

"We're going to need more than one form of virus, in case one doesn't work, or is a form the Dalek's immune system will recognise and can eliminate before it delivers it's DNA. There are also two or three sequences of DNA, in case one isn't effective enough despite the simulations saying it is, or in case it gets into the wrong part of the genome."

"So, these are the coats of viruses found naturally on Skaro, and the foreign DNA is put in it to be carried to the Daleks via this virus?" asked Rose.

"One is a Skaro virus, the ones you're turning out now is the coat of the human airborne influenza virus. As I said, we don't want to rely on just one viral coat. Those are just two of many we'll be using."

Rose nodded. Something at the back of her mind was bothering her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it…

"We know the Daleks have tried to take over the Earth at least once or twice." Said Shobar. "What we are trying to do is introduce a virus that will make them less of a threat. However, the time it would take to train somebody up and teach them the scientific knowledge they'd need plus the information we have on the Daleks, it would take too long by conventional means. What we know about the Daleks is not enough. However, we have found a way to speed the whole thing up, and make available knowledge that we do not ourselves possess."

"What do you mean? asked the Doctor. "How can you make knowledge you do not possess available?"

"We do possess the knowledge, but not in a way that _we_ can use. Our brain structure is too different." Shobar said. "That is why we created Linnana the way she is. She is the child of two great scientific minds, one from this planet, and one from another."

"Where did you get the flu viral coat?" asked Rose. "Did one of the scientists catch it, and you cultured it from him?" laughed Rose. Then she saw that Linnena wasn't laughing, and realized she thought she was being serious. "That's a joke." she explained. "I know you probably have the structure somewhere on computer." Linnena smiled.

"Yes, the structure was on file. Strangely enough, there _was_ a flu outbreak here some weeks ago, and everyone else went down with it. I was the only one unaffected, due to my hybrid nature."

Rose's brow furrowed. Something suddenly clicked in her mind.

"Linnena is a hybrid?" asked the Doctor. "Of human and what else?"

"Human and original Kaled." said Shobar. "UNIT had some of Davros's DNA and we used it, fusing some of it with a human egg cell. Linnena will even be able to have children. We could not condemn her to a sterile existence, so we even made sure she could have offspring with another human if she so chooses."

"I don't see how her hybrid nature will help you." said the Doctor.

"It helps that her brain was less able to resist the mind print from Davros that we used to impart his scientific knowledge to her. Had we tried a fully human person, it may not have taken. It did, however, take in Linnena. Her brain structure is obviously similar enough. She knows what he did-scientific knowledge, and the most intimate knowledge of the Daleks. She can help us lessen their threat."

The Doctor paled. "You used Davros's mind print to give Linnena the knowledge? That is very dangerous!" the Doctor said. "It's not just the knowledge of Davros that will have been transferred over, but his memories and certain aspects of his personality. That's not just Linnena back there! She will have aspects of herself and aspects of Davros. Most times, she will be mostly Linnena, but Davros was a very dominant personality, and the memories and personality traits will exert themselves on Linnena, and at times she will be more Davros in mind than Linnena! She may not know whose side she's supposed to be on, or be overwhelmed by the dominant traits of Davros' personality, and that could be a very bad thing. She could be working _against_ you, not for you. I think we need to get there, NOW. Rose is in there!"

The Doctor set off towards the lab at a sprint, the three scientists not far behind him.

Rose turned to Linnena. "If you're immune to the flu, won't the Daleks also be immune? You must know that, you have more knowledge on that subject than me, so why make flu viruses? They're no good if they can't infect the enemy."

Linnena had picked up a small glass cylinder flask. Then Linnena turned back, and Rose took an involuntary step backwards. Linnena's face had closed again, not completely, for she did wear a small smile. However, she was not smiling in a friendly manner, and as Rose backed off, she followed her.

"It depends on who you define as the enemy, Rose." Linnena hefted the cylinder flask in her hand. "Scientific equipment is marvelous stuff, you know, and the stuff in this lab is particularly well made. This is made of very strong glass, quite unbreakable, weighted at the bottom to avoid the chance of spillage if it's knocked." she said. Then she lashed out at Rose with it. Rose tried to avoid it but Linnena had moved too fast, and Rose was backed against a wall with little room for maneuver, and the weighted bottom of the flask struck her on the head.

Rose crumpled to the floor unconscious. Linnena checked that Rose was out cold, then moved to the lab door as she heard approaching footsteps. She activated the lock.

As the Doctor and the three scientists reached the door, it slid shut.


	2. Hostage Situation

Doctor Who and the Daughter of the Daleks.

Part Two-Hostage Situation

Linnena secured the door, then turned back to the crumpled form of Rose. She cleared a nearby surface of equipment, and then lifted Rose's inert form onto the surface. Rose was a bright girl, she mused. Too bright for her own good, it seemed. It was a shame she'd made the slip about the flu. A shame too, reflected Linnena, that she herself had not given a plausible reason for her immunity-like a vaccination, or a previous dose of flu-instead of panicking and hitting Rose. However, what was done was done, although how she would get out of this situation, she didn't know.

Thumps against the locked door turned her attention away from the Doctor's companion, and she could hear voices shouting her name. She recognised all but one of the voices: the unknown voice had to belong to the Doctor. Then the intercom crackled to life.

"Linnena, what's going on in there? Let me in at once." It was Shobar.

Linnena depressed the intercom button. "No, I have things to be getting on with." she responded coolly. Walking away from the intercom, and ignoring Shobar's repeated calling of her name, Linnena found a clean cloth, wet it under the tap, and gently placed it over the large lump rising from where she'd hit Rose with the flask.

There was a different voice over the intercom, the one she didn't recognise.

"Linnena, let Rose go, she's no threat to you." She walked to the intercom, and set it for continuous two-way communication.

"Rose had an accident, Doctor, I'm tending to her now." she said. "She'll have a headache, I'm afraid, but I know where painkillers are kept in here."

"What have you done to her?" asked the Doctor.

"I panicked, and knocked her out. She was too bright for her own good. I had to stop her before she tried to stop me."

"Linnena, you may have hurt her! Let us in so we can tend to her!" said Shobar.

Linnena went over, and blew on Rose's face. Her eyelids flickered, and she twitched.

"No, as I said, she'll just wake up with a headache. She'll be fine. Just leave us alone. We'll be okay, we don't need you."

"Linnena, I don't understand. What's going on?" pleaded Shobar. Linnena laughed.

"No, you don't do you, and I am not about to enlighten you. You bore me. I have work to do." she said, her voice going as cold and brittle as ice. She switched off the intercom.

"What is going on?" asked Shobar.

"Did you notice the way her voice changed? One moment she was quite calm, the next she was distressed, and apparently concerned for Rose, then totally cold." said the Doctor.

"Yes, but that's normal for Linnena, she's been like that from the beginning. It's a bit disconcerting, but you get used to it." Shobar said.

"That is one of the signs of Linnena's internal struggle." the Doctor said. "Mind prints are awkward things, as it's not just information contained within, but aspects of personality, emotions, and memories. It's a well-known fact among my people that the mind prints of beings with dominant personalities can try to overcome the host personalities. On some worlds, the only beings allowed to access such prints are those with special training to resist the attempted take-over by the personality on the print. Davros was a very dominant personality, and unless I'm much mistaken, Linnena has had no such training."

"Do you mean that in effect, it's like having Davros in Linnena's body?" asked Shobar. "I don't see how that's possible."

"Not quite." the Doctor said. "It's difficult to explain. It's not mind control, Davros is not alive-to my knowledge-so it's not quite the same thing, but it's more than mere suggestion. It's like the mind-print contains echoes of Davros' personality, and it is these echoes that she is finding confusing. Some of Davros' opinions and beliefs, imparted to her via the mind-print, are infiltrating her mind, and she's not sure who is her friend and who is her foe because she cannot tell where her own feelings and beliefs end, and those she inherited from the mind-print begin. After all, it doesn't help that she has no comparison of her mind without the print, because she's had it as long as she can remember."

"My God, what have we created?" Shobar asked.

"Don't take that view of her, she is merely confused. Perhaps the question you should be asking is what have you done to _her_, and what can you do about it. She's not bad or evil, just confused and unstable, but it is that confusion and lack of stability that is dangerous, because we cannot know how she will react in a given situation."

Rose groaned as she came to. Her head throbbed terribly, and she felt sick. As she sat up, the world spun crazily, and at the same time she recalled what had happened. She grabbed the surface she lay on to steady herself, and looked around. Linnena had moved to her side, taking her arm to steady her.

"Careful, you don't want to fall and hit your head again. Take these, they'll ease the pain." Linnena pressed two small tablets into her hand and proffered a glass of water. Rose looked at the two small tablets.

"You're not trying to poison me, are you?" she asked.

"I could have killed you while you were unconscious if I wanted to. Take them or not, the choice is yours."

Rose nodded, then stopped as the motion worsened her nausea. "You have a point. I wouldn't need these if you hadn't clobbered me one, but if they're going to help, I'll take 'em." She put the pills in her mouth and swallowed. Almost immediately the throbbing eased somewhat, and her nausea vanished. Rose felt much better.

"Crumbs, I wish you could get these in my time." she said. "Beats the pants off ibuprofen."

"There is no permanent damage, as far as I can tell, you should suffer no lasting effects. I had best reassure your friend." she said. Moving over to the intercom, she turned it back on.

"Rose has regained consciousness, and is suffering no untoward effects." she said.

"Let me hear her speak, please." the Doctor's voice replied almost immediately.

"Do you doubt my word?" asked Linnena, her voice suddenly turning cold.

"Not at all, Linnena, I would just be considerably reassured to hear her string a few words together in a coherent fashion." he hurriedly assured her.

"It's okay, Doctor, my head hurts but I'm okay." she called out.

"Thank you!" said the Doctor. Linnena turned off the intercom, and turned back to Rose.

"Are you feeling any better?" she asked, frowning in concern.

"She's turned off the intercom again!" said Shobar, toggling the button agitatedly. "We need to get in there! There's no telling what she's doing in there!"

"Getting in was never a problem." said the Doctor.

"What do you mean? We're locked out here! If you have a way of getting in, then tell us!" The Doctor ferreted about in his pocket for a moment, and brought out a silver device similar in size and shape to a pen. It had a blue light at one end.

"The electronic lock has yet to be invented that cannot be opened with a sonic screwdriver." the Doctor said.

"Then why didn't you say so? Use your electronic gizmo to open the door, and we can get in there and-"

"And risk her panicking, and killing Rose, killing herself, or using something else against us? No, barging in by force is a last resort. I will use it if I believe Rose may be killed otherwise, but I will not risk the use of it endangering Rose." The Doctor put the sonic screwdriver back in his pocket. "No, I believe the way forward is through negotiation, and I believe we have found a starting point by finding someone or something we have in common."

"And just what is that?" asked Shobar.

"Linnena and I have one thing in common. We both care about Rose." he said.

"Linnena, I'm confused." said Rose. "You've been brought up with and raised by humans, yet you see humans as the enemy?" asked Rose.

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no." Linnena said. "It varies. At the moment, I feel that the humans on the other side of that door are my enemies, but you're still an unknown quantity. I don't know whether you're a friend or not. You seemed to be concerned for my welfare, repeatedly tried to continue communicating despite my concern that it would slow the work. Rose, you make me feel-relevant."

"Of course you're relevant!" Rose exclaimed. "Everyone is relevant! Everyone is important, everything alive, human or otherwise, has feelings." She sighed at her recent memory. "Even once-against the Doctor's expectations-a Dalek."

"Tell me!" said Linnena, her voice no longer containing the "spark" Rose had begun to associate with Linnena's more feeling side. Rose's heart sank: she could not understand Linnena's sudden switching from the pleasant girl she liked to the cold woman she did not. Maybe this was what Linnena had meant about not having social skills, for when Linnena got like this, Rose disliked her intently.

"Tell me about this Dalek. Obey!" cried Linnena. Rose took a step back. It was the first time Linnena had raised her voice at her, and the combination of the orders with the raised voice made Rose somewhat scared of Linnena.

"Okay, okay!" cried Rose. "A Dalek in Utah absorbed some of my DNA, and something about it made it able to re-animate and repair itself. I tried to get away, but I got trapped. I thought it was going to kill me, but we started talking. It seemed that somehow, absorbing my DNA had given it the ability to feel emotions, including fear, and in the end, I think, compassion. It didn't kill me-even when I once challenged it when it was about to kill someone. It could have-but it didn't." Rose began to cry as her story began to reach its conclusion. "In the absence of fresh orders, it just planned to eliminate every non-Dalek in range, which is what, according to the Doctor, the Daleks generally do. But it began to question that plan. In the end, it picked up on a comment of mine and wanted just to feel the sunlight. We discussed how we felt. It just wanted freedom-but the freedom it wanted was from its existence as a mutated creature in a shell. It wanted to die. It couldn't do it, though, without an order from somewhere-and it chose me to be the one to give it that order. I didn't want to, but it said its life was not worth living, and it pleaded with me to give the order. So I did. Then it just said "Exterminate!", flew into the air, and just-vaporised." Rose sat down where she was, the tears trickling down her face. "I've had to live with myself for that, regretting it, but knowing I did what it wanted. But, Linnena, if it could have put up with life, could have continued to learn, and change, what could it be now? By the time I gave that order, it was my friend."

Linnena sat down beside Rose, and put her arm around her, and when she spoke, it was the Linnena Rose liked.

"I'm sorry if I scared you. I don't know what came over me. Thank you. It gives me an insight into something of the other side of my inheritance-the Kaled side. I don't know where, however, I can get more knowledge."

"Do you still have Internet?" asked Rose. Linnena sighed.

"Yes, but much of what's on that is incomplete eye-witness accounts that don't tell me the half of what I want to know-even the usually-classified UNIT files. The rest is speculation, and I don't want to go on that." Rose sighed.

"In that case, I only know one other person who might be able to tell you more, and he's the other side of that door."

The intercom crackled to life. "Doctor, I must speak to you." came Linnena's voice. "Please." The Doctor moved to the intercom, and depressed the button.

"Linnena, this is the Doctor. How is Rose?" he said.

"She's fine, but Doctor, I need to know more about the Daleks." she said. "Rose said you could tell me more."

"Well, you're the girl with the mind-print of the Dalek's creator. What could I tell you?" he asked, puzzled.

"I need an observer's eye view, and preferably a non-human one. You would seem to fit the bill." The Doctor released the intercom button.

"This is good." he said to the others. "We have dialogue. Perhaps what I tell her will help." He depressed the button again.

"Okay, Linnena, find a seat. I'll start at the beginning, but it's a long story." The doctor released the button, but then Shobar pressed it again.

"Linnena, this nonsense has gone on long enough. Release the girl and come out here now. We have work to be getting on with. You are being delinquent in your duties!"

"Shobar, no!" cried the Doctor. But it was too late. The damage had been done.

"You!" spat Linnena's voice from the speaker, and Shobar recoiled at the venom contained in that one word. "That's all you created me for-as a tool, for you and your fellow humans to use and abuse as you saw fit! When you're finished with me, you'll throw me away, and right now, I'm a malfunctioning tool, and you'll destroy me, and then replace me! You and the others never saw me as a person, just as at thing! What about _my_ feelings? What about what _I_ want? What about _me_?" There was a noise that sounded suspiciously like the beginning of a long-drawn, anguished cry, and then the intercom was turned off. The Doctor rounded on Shobar.

"That's done it! She's hurt and I have no way anymore of communicating with her. Why did you say that?"

"I thought maybe if I reminded her of her duty, she might see things clearly again. It's worked at other times." Shobar said. He looked rather stunned.

"Well, all it's succeeded in doing is hurting her feelings badly." said the Doctor. "I just hope she doesn't take it out on Rose."

Linnena threw herself away from the intercom, and fled to a corner, where she crawled under a bench. Once there, she wrapped her arms around her knees. She laid her head on her knees, and sobbed, heart-rending cries that Rose could not ignore.

Dropping down to all fours, Rose crawled under the bench with Linnena, putting her arm around her, much as Linnena had done to her ten minutes earlier. She sat there, hugging Linnena and trying to soothe her. After a while, Linnena's sobs ceased, and she sat quietly, looking ahead, the occasional shadow flickering across her eyes. Then, she abruptly threw off Rose's arm, and crawled out from under the bench.

"Rose, we have work to do." She said. Rose hesitated, for it was cold-Linnena again, but then crawled out. She couldn't expect Linnena to suddenly be all right again.

"Well, okay, what do you want me to do?" she asked.

"Continue replicating those protein coats. I have an idea, and it will help you humans."

Rose started up the replicator, and re-stocked it with nutrients, as Linnena had shown her earlier that morning, although it felt more like half a century ago.

"How do you live with emotions?" asked Linnena. "Fear, pain, hate?"

"We cope, we have to." Said Rose. "It's all part of being human. We offset them against hope, joy, love, and happiness. It's a part of being human."

"I would rather not have to suffer them." Linnena said. "They're too complex and it hurts too much to have love and truth betrayed." A shadow flickered briefly behind her eyes, then was gone. "Do Daleks feel any emotions?" asked Linnena. Rose blinked at the sudden shift in the conversation.

"Uhhh, I don't have a clue." confessed Rose. "Ask the Doctor. He might know." Linnena crossed the room, thumbing the intercom back on.

"Doctor, about the Daleks. Do they have any feelings at all?" Linnena's voice startled the group in the corridor. Casting Shobar a quelling glare, the Doctor answered.

"Hate, Linnena, that's about it. They were bred to be soldiers. They obey orders and hate non-Daleks. That's about it."

"This was all achieved by genetic manipulation?" she asked.

"Yes. Davros's work. He was a genius, but power-hungry and quite mad, you know." The Doctor sat back, waiting for an answer. It took about a minute for him to realise that there wasn't going to be one.

"I will work with the gene sequencer. You continue that." Linnena told Rose. "By the way, I need a sample of your blood."

Rose went cold. There was something wrong about that.

"Why?" she asked.

"I need a full human genome to experiment with. What gene does what, what will happen here and soforth." Rose slipped off her stool and backed off.

"Oh no, Linnena, I'm not sure what you have in mind, but I don't think messing with the human genome will do us much good. We prefer to let evolution do it for us in its own sweet time."

"I thought you might think like that, Rose." said Linnena. Rose saw her fiddling with something, her back to Rose, and Rose began to sidle towards the door. Maybe if she could keep Linnena talking, she could work out how to unlock that door.

"I don't think Shobar does see you as just a tool." Rose said. Linnena turned towards her, dropping one hand into her lab coat pocket.

"Really?" she asked, approaching Rose. "You really think so?"

"Well yes." Said Rose. "He's brought you up, he must-"

Too late, Rose realised Linnena had just been distracting her. While talking, she had taken her hand from her pocket, and pricked the back of one of Rose's arms with the syringe she held. A light touch, and that was it: without a word, Rose sank to the floor. She was still conscious, but unable to move or speak.

"I think he does." said Linnena, picking up Rose. "Don't worry, the paralysis only affect voluntary muscles, and that will wear off in time, in about twenty minutes, and in that time I can make certain you will hurt neither I nor yourself, and I can get the blood I need to test my gene manipulations." She turned to Rose.

"Don't worry, Rose, I'll be very thorough about this, and test that each gene manipulation I will make the virus perform will have the desired effect." She smiled down at the terrified Rose.

"Only when I'm certain it will work perfectly will I test it on you."


	3. Rose in Peril

Doctor Who and the Daughter of the Daleks.

Part Three-Rose in Peril.

Rose could do nothing more than lie there in abject terror after Linnena's calm statement. Linnena must have sensed this, for she laid a warm and gentle hand on Rose's cheek and said "Rose, I'm not going to hurt you; in fact the effects of the virus will not affect you at all. To rewrite your genetic code, the virus would have to infiltrate every cell in your body, and that's impossible. No, this virus will only affect the cells in your reproductive system. It'll be your children who will reap the benefits. Davros' mistake was to leave the hate in the Daleks, but if I purge all emotion and all feelings, take his modifications that much further, perhaps the humans can have a life free of all the emotions that have caused wars and misery throughout history." She was rooting around in a cupboard, and had found some leather straps and belts. She used a rivet-gun to rivet these to a nearby lab bench, and then, carrying Rose over to the bench, she used them to restrain Rose's arms, legs, and body.

"There, that'll keep you safe once you recover from the drug." She said.

For the next fifteen minutes, Rose thought frantically of how she could prevent Linnena from doing this thing, something she thought would benefit humanity. She thought through what she could say, discarded one idea, thought up a new one, then discarded that too. She still only had several loosely-associated thoughts by the time she realised she had recovered enough to speak. It would be very quiet, but it was speech.

"Linnena, please don't do this." She said hoarsely.

"Why not? You don't need these emotions." She said.

"What right do you have to say that?" Rose asked her. "You don't understand emotions and feelings, and how much impact they have on our lives."

"I've seen enough and read enough." Said Linnena bitterly. "War, murder, and misery.

"But what about art, caring, and love? Without emotions and feelings you cannot have these. How can someone or something without feelings understand the concept of beauty? How can a feelingless being have concern for others? How can it dance, sing, paint, write poetry, or make jokes without emotions to fuel the creative process?" Rose could see that Linnena was thinking about this, and she redoubled her efforts. "Linnena, it is true that some human emotions are bad and destructive, but some are good and constructive too. Sometimes you need the negative to experience the positive. How can you know how a good feeling feels if you've never experienced a bad one? It hurts, I know, I lost my Dad when I was little, he was killed, and it still hurts, but I still have my Mum, and I treasure her even more because of that. Linnena, please give emotions a proper try before condemning them. I can help you, I can explain more, and I can help you experience some of the joyful ones, and tell you how I beat some of the nastier ones. Some human emotions are helpful, even seemingly negative ones. Fear protects you, makes you want to stay away from things that might hurt you, and curiosity helps us find things out, try things out." Rose stopped, having run out of things to say. Linnena watched her, as a tear slipped from Rose's eye.

"You are scared." She said, a statement, not a question. "You are scared of me. Why."

"Because you threaten any children I may have. I don't want them to be shapeless, emotionless blobs requiring mechanical life support to live. I want them to know love, to know relief if they get lost and we find them. I want them to know what it's like to run and play in the air, in the sun, what it's like to have fun. That's what I want for my children, yet you plan to change all that, to make that impossible, and that scares me." Linnena looked at her, long and hard. Then she moved over, and undid Rose's restraints, helping the still-shaky Rose pull clear of them and stand on the ground. Linnena looked at her keenly.

"So, what do you suggest, Rose?" she asked.

"It's awfully quiet in there." Shobar said. "We don't have any idea what is going on in there."

The Doctor knelt by the intercom. Removing his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, he began taking off the cover.

"I may not wish to rush in, but I would like to establish some sort of dialogue with the girl." he said. "I think I may be able to turn on the speaker at her end, and perhaps activate the mike at her end-although I would prefer that she speaks back to us by choice."

The sonic screwdriver buzzed and hummed in his hand, flashed a few times, and then stopped. "That should do it!" he said. He depressed the button. "Linnena, this is the Doctor. Are you okay?"

Linnena jumped as she heard the Doctor's voice. "I thought I turned that thing off." she muttered. She approached the intercom, and Rose followed. Linnena switched the intercom to continuous two-way communications, got herself a seat, and sat down.

"I'm okay, Doctor, and so is Rose." she said. "What do you want?"

"It's more to do with what you want Linnena." said the Doctor. "You wanted to know the observer's point of view of the Daleks. I hope you're sitting down, because this could take some time. As you know, Davros was the creator of the Daleks, and from that mind-print, you probably also know about the war between the Kaleds and the Thals, the war the Daleks were originally created to fight in. However, the Daleks did not confine themselves to Skaro, although that is where I first met them..."

Rose listened as intently as Linnena while the Doctor talked, because much of this was new to her too. Linnena listened politely to the Doctor's account, occasionally interrupting for clarification, or to ask him to answer a question Linnena felt his account didn't answer. The Doctor answered Linnena's questions as best as he could, and Linnena listened intently. Linnena nearly turned the intercom back off when Shobar demanded once again that she come out, but a curt "Shut up Shobar!" and some quick talking by the Doctor stopped her.

During this account, Varros came with the paperwork, and the Doctor told Shobar to tell Varros what was going on while he continued talking. As the Doctor had warned, his account did take hours, but one of the other scientists, a man called Michael, kept getting him glasses of water from a tap in the lab next door. When he had finished, the Doctor asked Linnena if she had any more questions. She said she did not, but wished to be given some time to think.

Linnena moved away from the intercom, but did not turn it off, Rose noticed.

"Does that answer some of your questions, Linnena?" asked Rose.

"Yes, but I'm very confused. How can I have two wildly opposing feelings? One side of me sees Shobar and the others as friends and mentors-or did," she said, her face twisting with remembered pain, "but the other sees all humans as enemies to be dealt with-at times, even you, Rose, which is crazy, because you do seem to genuinely care about me and to have my interests, as well as your own, at heart. How can this be?" she asked Rose plaintively.

"Maybe it's because you do feel betrayed by Shobar, although I don't think he meant to do that. Your knowledge of humans is pretty much restricted to the ones you've met here, which can't be more than a couple of dozen at most. You yourself have admitted that you just don't go out. You can't judge a whole species on a few individuals. Even the Doctor discovered that about Daleks in Utah. He came across a Dalek changing its nature, which was unthinkable to him. Linnena, that Dalek couldn't change completely, it had been engineered aggressive, its primary purpose was to kill, but it exterminated _itself_ rather than all other life, which from what the Doctor told me, is a first."

"Do you think that's what I should do?" asked Linnena, tensing. "Do you think I should do that, because it would be better for everyone else?"

"No, Linnena!" cried Rose. "That's not what I mean! I'm just trying to say that every person is different!"

"Good." said Linnena. "I would have seen you as the enemy if you had. The thing is, I know I'm just here to help find a way to neutralise the Dalek threat. I'm just a tool, a means to an end. What will happen when my purpose has been completed-or I fail? Will I be destroyed? Rose, I'm frightened, I could be so much more, I'm sure! Is it so wrong to want to just live, to be who I am?"

"No, Linnena, it's not." said Rose softly. "It's not wrong at all."

The Doctor, Shobar, Varros and the other scientists looked at each other. Through the intercom they had heard every word. Shobar looked at the Doctor. "I didn't realise she thought that." he said. "We all care for Linnena, but she will not take any time off, even when we suggested it."

"Maybe she was so eager to please you that she feared you would think less of her if she did." the Doctor said. "I think perhaps you should try speaking to her, explain that you do care about her and that her interests and desires are important to you."

"If she will speak to us." Shobar said. "Last time we tried, she cut us off."

"Maybe it is not so much who is speaking that matters." the Doctor said. "Perhaps what you say matters more."

Shobar thought about this for a moment. Then he turned to the intercom.

"Linnena?" he asked. "Could we talk? Please?"

Linnena jerked her head up. "What is there to talk about?" she asked. "All you care about is the work I do. Why should I work for you?"

"Linnena, forget the work!" said Shobar. "There is time enough for work later, and if you teach us each a little of what you know, we can help take some of the workload off your shoulders." Shobar said. Linnena did not respond, and it was Rose who broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Linnena, how long have you have lived amongst Shobar and the others for?" she asked.

"Seven years." said Linnena. "I spent the five before that growing and maturing in an artificial womb."

"You may only have a small representation of the human race to base your assumptions on, but I have seen and experienced many people, and until I hooked up with the Doctor, they were all human. In my experience, you cannot associate with other humans without feeling something for them, usually varying degrees of affection. I have known the Doctor for less time than Shobar and the others have known you, but already we care quite deeply for each other. In Utah, the Doctor preferred to risk the Dalek escaping from where it was trapped-and possibly killing millions- rather than risk it killing me. Okay, Shobar and the others may be dedicated scientists, and consider their-and your-work important, maybe even vital, but there is no way they have interacted with you for seven years without developing some sort of affection for you." Linnena still looked sceptical, but Rose could see hope in her eyes. She pressed her advantage, reaching over to give Linnena's arm a heartening squeeze. "Go on-ask them!"

"Well?" asked Linnena. "You heard that, I know. Is she telling the truth?"

"Yes, Linnena." said Shobar. "She is. Your well-being is more important than the work. I can only apologise for not realising sooner that you had so little self-worth."

"It's not just that." whispered Linnena. "I feel like you're all my enemies, and I don't know why."

"Actually, I have a theory about that." said the Doctor.

Linnena tensed. "Well, I hope you do, Doctor, because my hatred of _you_ is very strong. It's taking all the restraint I have to not switch you off so I don't have to listen. I would like to hear your theory because I have never met you before, yet I feel hate and fear for you."

"You have never met me before, but your father did, and I suspect that the mind-print used on you was taken after many, if not all, his meetings with me. That hatred you feel, Linnena, is not your own, but that of your father, Davros. It was an unexpected and unwanted part of the mind print that gave you the scientific knowledge. Davros didn't like humans, either, in fact he disliked most humanoids. You never had a chance, Linnena, to experience your own personality, so you cannot know which feelings are purely yours, and which are shadows of Davros's personality, carried in the mind print." the Doctor explained.

"Is this possible, Shobar." Linnena asked.

"It makes sense. The mind-print was given to you during your last few months of maturation, before you became fully aware."

"So, what's to be done about it?" she asked. "Will I be locked away as dangerous? I couldn't stand that!" She began to cry.

"We could erase the mind-print." the Doctor said.

"What about the knowledge I need for my work? Would I lose that?" she asked.

"Not if you write down the most important bits, or even just _use_ it. Neither will you lose the knowledge of how to do the work you have already done. Your own memories would not be affected, only the memories-and with it, the personality traits and feelings-of Davros."

"The work isn't so important, Linnena, that we would risk losing you, or leaving you like this" Shobar said. He turned to the Doctor. "There's only one problem. Linnena is the first recipient of a mind-print. We don't know how to remove it, or even if we can."

"Maybe you don't, and even I have only a vague idea of how to, but I do know somebody-or something-that could."

"You do?" Shobar asked hopefully. "Where?"

"Down in your storage area. My TARDIS." he said.

"There you are, Linnena!" said Rose, delighted. "The Doctor can help you! You can be your own person, and get rid of all these conflicting emotions! Just open the door and the Doctor can help you!"

"Yes, I will!" Linnena said, a smile of relief washing over her face.

Linnena moved towards the door, reaching for the keypad. She was about to key in an unlocking sequence when she stopped. Rose saw a quick wash of emotions-fear, mistrust, hope, hatred, uncertainty-ripple across her face, and, guessing that Linnena was stuck between two conflicting sets of emotions, found herself torn between the instinct to reach out to touch Linnena in a gesture of confidence, or to get away from her. The result was that Rose hesitated for just a second or two. However, it coincided with Linnena's battle within herself-which she had lost. She threw her elbow back, catching Rose in the stomach, winding her, and Linnena was on her before she could recover. She wrenched her round till, sitting on Rose, she could watch the door. Shattering a conical flask, Linnena seized a jagged piece of glass. She knelt on Rose's arms, her knees on her wrists, and her bottom on her chest. She used one hand to force up Rose's chin, and held the glass to Rose's throat with her other hand. Her eyes were wild.

"It's a trap!" she cried. "You mean to destroy me! Don't come in! If you try to, I'll kill her!" She looked at Rose. "Tell them!" she shrieked.

"She's holding glass to my throat." Rose called out. "Looking at her face, I think she means it!" she said. She closed her eyes, thinking _'Here we go again!' _

_"Darn!"_ swore Shobar. "What happened?"

"Aspects of Davros's personality are affecting her judgement." said the Doctor. "Let's just say that Hell would have frozen over before Davros would have trusted me."

"Well, we can't rush in, because she's said she'll kill Rose if we do, and Rose is fairly convinced she means it, so what do we do?" asked Shobar.

"We wait." said the Doctor. "The two personalities are in constant conflict with each other, and at some point Linnena's will overcome the shadow of Davros's. How long that will take, how long it will last, and how Linnena will react are unknown quantities. It's not a great plan, but under the circumstances, it's the only plan I have."

"Ouch!" said Rose, squirming a bit. "You have bony knees!"

Linnena regarded her coldly.

"Keep still. The more you wriggle, the more it is likely to hurt, and the more chance there is that my hand will slip."

"Linnena, I..." Rose found herself lost for words. She could think of nothing constructive to say. "I'm frightened." she eventually blurted out.

"Frightened...?" said Linnena. "Rose, I'm not going to kill you unless I absolutely have to. You're more useful, and more valuable to me, alive."

"That's some comfort, I suppose." Rose said. "Why?"

"Why?" echoed Linnena. Your DNA can be analysed, you can help replicate virus casings, and I can talk to you."

"Look, Linnena, this is not comfortable. If I promise, absolutely promise, that I won't take advantage of the situation, can you let me up? All I can think of at the moment is how much my wrists hurt."

Rose saw Linnena consider her request, and for a moment thought Linnena was going to refuse. However, she said "Any tricks, and I may not kill you, but it will hurt, and I may be forced to use the paralysis serum on you again. No funny stuff, Rose, do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand, and I promise I won't try anything." Rose said.

Linnena, still holding the glass to Rose's throat, carefully got off her. She took the hand off Rose's chin, helping Rose to sit up. Rose could still feel the edge of the glass resting lightly against her skin. She considered breaking her word, but recalled Linnena's threat and decided it wasn't worth it if she failed. Anyway, she _had_ promised, and Linnena had trusted her. Linnena's trust and friendship had helped her already today. Losing that trust could make things much more difficult.

"Linnena, I guess you've never had parents." Rose said. "I have my mum, but my dad got killed when I was little. Mum and I are kinda close, and when I went missing for twelve months, she was frantic. I'm an only child, Mum never remarried-though I think she fancied the Doctor on his first visit." Despite herself, Rose giggled, and Linnena giggled too, to Rose's surprise.

"Well, I guess he _is_ kind of dishy." said Linnena. "I guess he's more your mum's age too. Did she flirt with him?"

"Yes." Rose said.

"Well, did he, you know, respond to the flirting?"

"Yes he did." Rose said, giggling again. "He got the heck out of her bedroom door!" This time, she and Linnena both burst into giggles.

"Linnena, are we friends?" asked Rose.

"Yes. You're a great friend, Rose." Linnena said.

"Can I ask you a favour?" Rose asked.

"Sure." said Linnena.

"Can you take the glass away from my throat? I'm not used to my friends doing that to me." Linnena looked at the glass in confusion, and threw it from her.

"What am I doing? Rose, I'm so sorry!" She threw her arms around Rose's neck and began crying. Rose just held her, hoping she was doing the right thing.

"Ssh, Linnena, it's okay, it's okay, we're friends, it's okay." she said. After a few moments, Linnena pulled away, moved to the door, and punched in a code on the door pad. It sprang open.

"Please, stop me before I threaten my friend again!" she said.

The Doctor and Varros had taken Linnena down to the TARDIS, each firmly holding on to one of her arms, just in case. It was a sensible precaution, because she started yelling and screaming and trying to get away, raving about the Doctor wanting to destroy her, and Shobar and the others bring in on the plot. Varros had managed to immobilise her long enough to sedate her, and they carried her to the storage room. In front of the TARDIS, the Doctor insisted only he and Rose enter with Linnena. Shobar objected, and refused to back down, so eventually the Doctor compromised on letting Shobar-but only Shobar-into the TARDIS with them.

He had laid Linnena down by the TARDIS console, and Shobar had knelt beside her and held her hand. The Doctor put a wire net over her head, connected up the wires trailing from it to the TARDIS console, flicked a few buttons and levers and then said "Okay, old girl, it's up to you." The Time Rotor had risen once or twice, and the TARDIS had begun making the noises Rose associated with takeoff, but after a while they ceased, and the console merely hummed, the Time Rotor glowing blue. Linnena flinched and twisted once or twice during the process, and once arched her back and cried out, while Shobar grabbed her and held her. It was over in fifteen minutes, and the Doctor removed the wire net, and called Linnena's name.

"H-hello, Doctor, Rose, Shobar." she said, a warm smile spreading over her face. She sat up.

"I feel rather drained...but I don't hate you any more, Doctor. I can still remember some of the memories, but they're more like dreams now. Rose, Doctor, would you join us for a meal?" Rose looked at the Doctor.

"You go ahead, Rose, I'll wait here for you. I don't do lunch."

"Promise you won't leave without me?" Rose asked.

"I promise." said the Doctor. Rose gave him a look.

"You've said that before and broken it." she said.

"Well, okay, you're right, I did, but I did come back, didn't I?" he said. "Rose, I won't go without you, I give you my word." He said. Rose nodded, satisfied.

"Okay, Linnena, I'll stay for a bite to eat, but then we have to go." Rose said. Linnena's face fell.

"But-you're my friend, Rose, how will I cope without you?" Rose patted her arm.

"You'll cope. Anyway, I want you to go out and make some more friends. Perhaps I'll come back, and when I do, I want you to introduce me to people!" Linnena smiled.

"Shobar has insisted I go out and learn social skills, so you're on!" she said.

Later that day, Rose went down to the storage bay, half-expecting to find the Doctor had gone anyway, but as he had promised, he was still there.

"Okay, I've retrieved all those samples they took from me, so I'm ready to go too." he said. "Have you said all your goodbyes, Rose?"

"Yeah, I'm ready to go too." she said. The Doctor held open the TARDIS door for her mock-gallantly. She walked in, and he followed her.

"So, where shall was go next?" he asked.

"Anywhere. You choose." she said, and then held up a finger. "Preferably somewhere where they've never heard of Davros or Daleks!"

"Coming right up!" he said. He smiled, and began to work the controls.

Outside in the storage room, the blue light began to flash, the TARDIS began to wheeze and groan, then slowly faded from view, taking the light and the noise with it.


End file.
